"It feels like a hundred years," said Peter. "As if it had all happened to someone else. There was a girl here, mother. Where is she now?"
"She has gone away."
Peter sank peacefully back. After a while his mother said to him:
"Have you been grieving for anyone, Peter, during these last years?"
"Grieving?" Peter was making diagrams of the cracks and stains on the ceiling.
"You've been talking, Peter."
"What have I been talking about?" he idly inquired.
"You've been talking about your troubles."
"I haven't any troubles." Peter turned from the ceiling to his mother's face, feeling how pleasant it was to see her there.
"You've been talking about someone who troubled you," Mrs. Paragon persisted.